ONLINE: Two Presidencies, Two Weeks, One Place: Trump and Biden on the National Mall

University Communications
Allison M. Prasch is an assistant professor of communication arts in the UW-Madison College of Letters and Science.
press release: Flanked by national landmarks such as the U.S. Capitol, the Lincoln Memorial, and the White House, the National Mall in Washington, D.C. has offered a symbolic backdrop for numerous celebrations, contestations, and civic rituals throughout U.S. history. But for two weeks in January 2021, this space offered a powerful study in contrasts between the end of one presidency and the beginning of another. This UW Center for the Humanities Friday Lunch talk will read the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol and the January 20th presidential inauguration as dual acts in a tale of two presidencies, moments in which two elected officials and their supporters used words, images, and embodied actions to define—and redefine—American patriotism.
Please register in advance to receive a link to the conversation.
Allison M. Prasch is an assistant professor of rhetoric, politics & culture in the Department of Communication Arts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is a 2019 recipient of the First Book Program Award from UW-Madison’s Center for the Humanities for The Global Rhetorical Presidency: Cold War Rhetoric on the World Stage and is the author of numerous essays and book-chapters on U.S. presidential rhetoric, foreign policy, and the Cold War.